Well, I’ve found myself out of a job for the second time in the last three years. A little background: two summers ago I found myself laid off when my department went through a restructuring. It was a stressful few months while I struggled to find another position. I did find something else at the company, but when it wasn’t a great fit for me, I moved on to what I’d hoped was greener pastures.

They WERE greener pastures for awhile. I was working on interesting projects and getting experience in a field I really wanted to work in. However, it was also quickly apparent that this wasn’t going to be a long-term option for me. I planned on staying a year and then starting to look for new opportunities at the end of this summer. Unfortunately, that timeline was moved up a few months when my position was reduced to a part-time contract role, something I can’t currently swing, financially. I’m employed through the first week in August, then I’m on my own in the big wide world. The timing is less than ideal, considering we just bought a house and got engaged.

This has been a pretty tumultuous experience. I’ve known about this since the middle of June, so I’ve had a month to process through this and look for jobs. For the most part, I’m remaining positive and looking at this as an opportunity rather than a set back. I am now open to pursue anything my heart desires. What’s my dream job? What’s my dream company? Where do I want to be in 5, 10, 15 years and what’s going to help me get there? It all feels very exciting. On the flip side, it’s also pretty stressful. The future is unknown. I’m scared we won’t be able to pay our bills. I’m worried I don’t actually have enough valuable work experience to get me a decent paying job in a field I’m interested in. It’s easy to get bogged down in regret when something like this happens, but I think it’s super important not to dwell in the past right now and instead look towards the future. I’m choosing to believe my future is bright and shiny and exciting and will allow me to live comfortably.

I’ve been really doing a lot of thinking about the type of career I want to have, and I’ve settled on something relating to marketing or communications and PR. Way back when I was starting college, that was my original career plan. Somewhere along the way I lost sight of that and I’m ready to get back on track. It isn’t going to be easy, without any experience, but I plan on fighting and clawing my way into that industry if it kills me.

I’ve also been taking a WordPress developer class which I am LOVING. Who knew I’d ever be into code? I really want to explore that more and learn as much as I can, so stay tuned for this space to eventually become my coding playground. In the meantime, can y’all keep your fingers crossed, send prayers and/or good wishes, or just straight up let me know if you know of any great jobs out there?!

Cold brew is having a moment right now. Starbucks recently added it to their menu as a limited time item and it has been so popular they’ve just decided to make it a permanent menu item. They’ve also decided to start raising their prices.

A Starbucks habit was already expensive, so these price hikes are really a blow to the wallet. Their cold brew is usually my special “treat” whenever I need a little pick me up, but a friend recently told me she makes her own at home and it is just as good.

“I’ve been down this path before,” I told her. “I’m not soaking tons of coffee in water and then straining it through three layers of cheese cloth and an industrial coffee filter. I’ve tried it all and it’s messy and I end up with bits of soggy coffee grounds in my cup. No thanks.”

But she swore it was super easy and I wouldn’t have to filter anything. “Fine,” I conceded. “What’s your trick?”

Her trick is nylons. Like the socks. That your grandma wears.

I was now even more skeptical of both her method and potentially our friendship. But she told me to trust her so I did.

Her method is this:

Fill the sock with ground coffee of your choosing. I used whatever I happened to have at home and I didn’t measure anything I just guessed. I would say that if you want your coffee stronger use a stronger coffee blend and put more in your sock. At this point your sock will 100% look like a turd. Do not be alarmed.

Put the sock in a pitcher of cold water. I tied a knot in the end of mine, stuck it in my pitcher, and let the little tail hang out. It will now look like a floating turd. Still, do not be alarmed, it will eventually become soggy and sink a bit. SOUNDING DELICIOUS ALREADY. My pitcher has a lid so I stuck that on top to secure the tail and keep the sock-turd from sinking to the bottom.

Put in fridge over night. Probably important to note that if you live with others you might want to let them know what the science experiment in your fridge is. Especially if your pitcher happens to be see-through.

Pull the sock out in the morning and throw it away. The coffee grounds in the sock essentially acts like a tea bag and turns your water into magical caffeinated elixir. AND THAT’S IT. No crazy filtering into three different containers needed.

So basically my friend is a genius and I will never doubt her crazy ideas again. At least when it comes to coffee.

I couldn’t be happier. Could. Not. He’s probably pretty relieved I’m not nagging him anymore and pointing out everyone on Facebook that is engaged that is not us.

He caught me completely off guard. I knew the proposal was coming, but I didn’t know when. The Sunday of Memorial Day weekend we were getting ready to go to a BBQ at his parents house and I was stomping around pouting because I gained a million pounds this winter and hated all my clothes. I’d finally settled on something and was finishing getting ready when I heard “At Last” playing really loudly in the kitchen. Still had no idea what was going on, because it’s honestly not that weird for N to be listening to that type of music. I did think it was weird he was cranking the music when we were supposed to be getting in the car to leave, though.

So I go out there to ask him what he’s doing, and there he is down on one knee with the ring. I’m pretty sure I said “ARE YOU SERIOUS!” and stood there in disbelief until he actually asked me to marry him, then I snatched that ring right out of his hands.

If he had even remotely tried to plan a more extravagant proposal I would have been on to him immediately, so this was really pretty smart on his part. Then we got to go to the BBQ and tell his entire family, and it was honestly one of the best days ever. I get all warm and fuzzy thinking about it.

The Don’s reaction was also QUALITY. I’m posting it here because she doesn’t read this and I feel it needs to be documented:

She had been down the Cape all weekend and wasn’t answering her phone, so when she FINALLY got back I raced down to her house. She knew something was up, because it was like 8:30 at night and that is definitely my bedtime. She had no idea I was going to tell her we were engaged, because she saw me pull up and saw N wasn’t with me (he actually was asleep, since he works nights and was snoozing before his shift).

The strategy I took was to just walk in the house holding up my hand, and the above video is what happened.

Being engaged is SUPER EXCITING and yet also SUPER OVERWHELMING. But mostly it feels absolutely perfect.

In honor of Memorial Day, otherwise known as the unofficial gateway to summer, I am here to tell you that the fluid high-low tee from Gap is the BEST summer t-shirt.

It’s loose but not too loose, the back is just long enough to cover your bum but isn’t ridiculously long, and the front isn’t ridiculously short, either.

I’m constantly on a quest for the best basic t-shirts and I’m so happy I found this one. I plan on basically living in it. I bought the white, because a plain white tee is my summer uniform, but I’m probably going to go back for a black one. Heck maybe I’ll even go crazy and get a striped one too!

AND everything at Gap is 40% off this weekend.

You. Are. Welcome.
*this post is not sponsored in any way, just sharing a great find!*

This past winter was no joke here in the Northeast. It’s nearly Memorial Day and I am just now reaching a place where I even feel comfortable discussing it.

We got a lot of snow. Like, a lot, a lot. The MBTA shut down. We flat out ran out of places to put the snow, especially in the city. It was cold. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad winter.

Naturally, we bought a house just in time for said horrible winter.

it’s like vacuuming the driveway

Despite the horror, we managed to make it through mostly unscathed. We had some roof leakage in our breezeway, and a small ice dam that caused a ceiling stain in my office, but nothing too major. Our two car driveway was reduced to a one car driveway once we realized the snowbanks on either side were too tall for both our physical abilities to lift and throw shovels full of snow over our heads and our tiny snow blower (which is electric, by the way. It needs to be plugged in. WHO INVENTED THIS? It’s the worst. However, it was also free.)

back door, which clearly we had no intention of using

Just before all the snow started, we bought new couches. It was a Sunday. “We’ll deliver them on Wednesday” they told us. Great. Can’t wait. We’re so excited.

Huge blizzard on Tuesday. Delivery delayed. Not a problem, we can wait.

Huge blizzards continue. We dig out the driveway and the side door that we always use to get in and out of the house, ignoring the front door because we don’t ever use it. Then, once there was a good three feet of snow on the ground, we realized the new couches wouldn’t fit through the side door, into the breezeway, around the kitchen island, and through the doorway into the living room. They would have to come in through the front door. The front door currently blocked by three feet of snow. We call and push back the couch delivery as long as they’d let us, figuring the snow will surely melt enough by March.

Oh, how naive we were.

We found ourselves spending a solid week digging a big enough path from the front door to the street so the guys from the furniture store could deliver the couches. Do you know what it’s like to try to dig through a snowbank composed entirely of snow that plows have been condensing on the side of the road for months? Not super fun. But we did it! And it turns out shoveling burns a ton of calories! And the couches look great! And finally, finally, the snow did melt.

I hadn’t planned on making any resolutions this year. I have everything I could want and need in life. That’s true. I’m not saying it to brag. I honestly feel like this is the first time in my life I haven’t felt like I was waiting for something to happen or that something is missing from my life. It’s a fantastic feeling. I am lucky and grateful and #blessed to feel this way. So resolutions seemed unnecessary this year. I just wanted to sit back and enjoy things.

So that’s what I’m going to do. Instead of focusing on things I want this year, I’m going to focus on the things I have and work on making them better. My theme for the year is “less is more”. Less time worrying and more time enjoying. Less time complaining and more time appreciating. Less frivolous spending and more money for experiences. Etc, etc. Usually at the New Year I feel as though it’s an opportunity to become a whole different person. This year I’ll be skinnier. Or, this year I’ll be more organized. This year I just want to become more like myself. I plan on keeping the things that make me happy and spending more time focusing on those things. I’m going to let go of things that don’t work for me. I want to simplify. I just want to live in that delightful middle area where you don’t feel as though you’re a complete waste of oxygen and you also don’t feel like you’re living someone else’s life. I want to live in that sweet spot where everything is just right and can only get better.

I have had this feeling lately that really big, wonderful things are headed my way this year. When they get here I want to be ready and waiting with open arms. I feel like if I lay the right foundation now, every little positive thing I do, every time I choose to be happy and optimistic instead of depressed is one step closer to building the best year ever. Like begets like, positivity begets positivity. This I have absolutely found to be true. So I’m heading into 2015 feeling good and seeking happiness. I hope you all try to do the same and that it brings you everything you could hope for.

As is typical before the New Year, I find myself reminiscing on the one that is coming to an end. 2014 was a weird, tumultuous, long year. It was a year of big changes, and leaps of faith, and mistakes, and some of the best times ever. It was a year of growth, that’s for sure.

The beginning of the year was rough. I was unhappy with my life, frustrated that it wasn’t moving forward, and unsure of what to do to change things. Then I got a new job. I left my comfortable, mostly safe, yet painfully boring, job at a company I had worked at since college. I was excited! This was going to be great! It was an opportunity I never thought I would have! And it was all of those things for a little while. Then the shine wore off and the truth presented itself and while I am super grateful I took the leap and I do truly believe doing so has set me on a path to somewhere I’m supposed to be, I’m still struggling with that part of my life.

It’s really been the last three or four months of 2014 that have been some of the most spectacular months of my life so far.

I’ve made some new, truly wonderful, amazing, weird-in-the-best-possible-way friends. It has been such a pleasure getting to spend time with these ladies on a regular basis and talk to them constantly. I had no idea I needed a tribe so badly until I found mine.

And the biggest most bestest thing to happen in all of 2014 (probably my whole life to this point) is N and I buying a house. Good golly I still can’t get over it. It’s been a challenge, and so damn expensive, but worth every moment of stress, extra penny spent, and pile of dishes washed. Plus I get to do it all with my best friend and love of my life which makes it even better. Even if he does leave his smelly snowboard boots right by the front door so that odor is the first thing I smell upon arriving home. He’s still the best.

Mostly at the end of 2014 I am feeling incredibly and overwhelmingly grateful and thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. The outpouring of generosity we have seen, and love and encouragement from family and friends, has been truly wonderful. Not a day goes by where I am not grateful for this life I get to lead and all the people who help to support me living it. And yes, this includes everyone who listens to me whine and assures me I’m not as crazy as I feel.

So for 2015 I’m hoping to continue on this positive path. I’m opening my sails and heading off to wherever the year may take me. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one.

We bought a house! Finally! After what felt like a million years of searching we found one we liked and our offer was accepted. A month and half of completely agonizing and mentally draining paperwork later, we had the keys. We’ve been here about a month now and we’re still slowly getting settled in, but we couldn’t be happier. The house is perfect for us. Photos after the break!

Fall is upon us which means there is just a little over a month until NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is a rather difficult to type acronym for National Novel Writing Month, which occurs in November each year.

I was contemplating whether or not I planned on doing it this year when a nearly fully-formed idea dropped into my lap. So, apparently I’m doing it this year. And dagnabbit, I’m gonna finish a novel. I have so many books I’ve started writing and never finished, it’s getting ridiculous. Even if it’s the worst book ever and it is never viewed by anyone’s eyes but my own, I”m going to do it. This is the year (I realize I say this every year).

I’ve started outlining and writing up character sketches, because once I get an idea I can’t wait to get it onto paper (or the computer screen I suppose). I’m waiting to do the actual writing in November, because to start earlier than that would be cheating.

I actually still go back to the draft I started last year every once in awhile, and someday I will finish that one, but I’m starting fresh this year. So this is just my proclamation that I am doing this, I’m psyched about it, and it’s gonna be awesome.